Herlings wraps up the MXGP world title early and wins in Turkey

Jeffrey Herlings arrived at the Grand Prix of Turkey already crowned as the 2026 MXGP world champion, having sealed the title ahead of schedule, and marked the occasion by winning both motos at Afyonkarahisar, running the golden number 1 plate for the first time in the second race.

Holeshot number eight for Herlings

Despite the title already being decided, Herlings was determined to finish the day in style. The Honda rider took the holeshot for the eighth time this season, narrowly ahead of French teammate Tom Vialle, with Tim Gajser also in the mix at the front. Vialle initially held off Gajser, before a fierce battle developed between the two HRC factory riders.

A costly mistake for Gajser

Yamaha’s Tim Gajser ran wide on the second lap and dropped behind Kawasaki factory riders Pauls Jonass and Romain Febvre. Febvre passed Jonass on lap three, with Gajser following through a lap later. Gajser then attempted to close the gap to Febvre, but a small crash cost him further ground.

Vialle pushes Herlings to the finish

Tom Vialle kept pushing until the chequered flag, chasing the race win throughout, but Herlings held on to take the moto by a narrow margin of just 0.5 seconds. The two HRC riders finished more than half a minute clear of the rest of the field.

Romain Febvre finished third overall with two third-place moto results, level on points with Vialle, with the tiebreaker going Vialle’s way thanks to his stronger second moto result.

A big points haul for local rider Yigit Ali Selek

Turkish GASGAS rider Yigit Ali Selek finished 16th on home soil, four laps behind the leader, scoring 10 championship points, matching the full season tally of some other riders further down the standings. Selek’s best lap time was more than half a minute off the pace of the leading riders, yet the result was still enough to move him up to 36th in the World Championship standings, ahead of riders including Paturel, Lapucci and van Berkel.

Two flyaway rounds still to come

The championship moves to Shanghai next week for round 18 of 19. Although the title has already been secured, positions further down the order can still change, with Red Bull KTM factory riders Andrea Adamo and Tom Vialle both well placed to improve their standing across the final two rounds in China and Australia.

MXGP of Turkey results

MXGP World Championship standings after round 17 of 19